Frank Albert
DepasqualeAIA

(1925–2010)

DePasquale (pronounced duh-pass-kwull) grew up in Roselle Park NJ and served in the Army during WWII. He entered the NCSU School of Architecture and Engineering in 1946 and graduated in 1951. He worked for Platt and Davis Engineers, John Latimer, and Thomas Hayes. Starting in 1956, he worked for and became a partner at the firm of George Watts Carr. Three years later, H. Leslie Walker, an architect formerly from Durham, enticed DePasquale to come to Tampa FL. In late 1961, Walker's firm dissolved and DePasquale established a solo firm in Tampa.

A recession in late 1962 caused DePasquale to come back to Durham in 1963 to work again for George Watts Carr. In 1964 Carr reorganized the firm as a partnership, renaming it Carr Harrison Pruden and DePasquale Architects. In 1978, DePasquale left Carr and founded DePasquale Markham Thompson Wilson Architects & Planners, later called DTW Architects & Planners. His partners were Felix Markham, Warren Wilson, and son-in-law John F. Thompson.

DePasquale formally retired in the mid-1990s from DTW but came into work almost every day. He was President Emeritus of the Historic Preservation Society of Durham. He also designed many churches including his own, St. Luke's Episcopal, and Grace Lutheran Church. Awards included the AIANC Merit Award for the Durham Arts Council Building in 1990; the AIANC Tower Award for the Hayti Heritage Center in 1993; and the Golden Leaf Architectural Award for Design Excellence in the City and County of Durham in 2005. DePasquale was honored at a Durham Tribute Luncheon in April 2010. He died later that year.

Architect Gene Brown recalls: "I couldn't help chuckling over the parenthetical pronunciation guide for Frank DePasquale's name. He actually referred to himself as that in public rather than using the actual Italian pronunciation of "Dee-pass-KWA-leh. One year when I was Chair of the Design Awards Committee for NCAIA, I had the occasion to present an award to Frank at the convention in Pinehurst. I started by saying that "This award is going to a fine architect and one of the nicest guys in the profession, but he's the only Italian I know who can't pronounce his own name!"

DePasquale (far right) with Frank Lloyd Wright during a visit to NCSU in May 1950.